It's been almost exactly one month since the CyanogenMod team published its first build of Android 4.4 for Nexus devices, and now the second M or "snapshot" release is rolling out. This time CyanogenMod 11 is going out to a much wider subset of the officially-supported device list, with most of the big players in the Nexus, Galaxy S4, and HTC One lines getting M builds, among many others. You can check to see if your device has a CM11 M2 ROM available at the download page.

CyanogenMod M builds are better-tested and generally more stable than nightly builds (which are usually pretty good by the standards of custom ROMs anyway), but not as polished as release candidates or stable builds. If you're an experienced user of CyanogenMod or custom ROMs in general, you should have no trouble working with the M snapshots. Nightly builds of Android 4.4 are also available for certain phones and tablets if you feel like living dangerously.

As always, you'll need a custom recovery on your supported phone to install CyanogenMod, and if you want access to the Google Play Store and other Google services you need to flash the separate Gapps package as well. (ART and non-ART versions are available for CM 11.) Remember to backup your current ROM in your recovery to have a safe return point. Happy flashing.

Michael is a native Texan and a former graphic designer. He's been covering technology in general and Android in particular since 2011. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.

☤☤☤☤ ☤☤☤☤୔☤ ☤☤☤☤ ☤☤☤☤☤Nightly builds of Android 4.4 arealso available for certain phones and tablets if you feel like living dangerously.

Defiant

I think he's trying to communicate with us. I can feel it.

Roh_Mish

Sorry. Autocurrect on my iPad is crap. Tried much, but it changes words with words it wants to be there.

hnl_dk

Stylus pens should be working on CM11

jordonvuz355

My Uncle Harrison got a nearly new blue
Buick Regal GS by work using a laptop. recommended you read B­i­g­2­9­.­ℂ­o­m

Eric Tackaberry

Might be an odd question, but my D803 LG g2 isn't listed. Would it be safe to use the at&t version, or would I need to flash the proper kernel with it?

Sam Hollis

You could try, but you'd need to flash the proper radio, not kernel. I'd ask XDA.

taylortmusic

I have a d801, you just need to have the appropriate kernel for your device, the radio isn't touched by flashing cm

Drifter2410

I wanted to use CM Installer app to get CM on my Nexus 7 2012 and I wanted to know the time required for downloading and the size it downloads because due to obvious reasons it was skipped in its hands on by AP. Can someone help me? :)

For my Nexus 5, I'm going to use XPosed and its modules this time; instead of flashing a rom.
Are there any modules that enables theme support?

I'm torn between CM and AOKP for my Galaxy Nexus. Currently it is running AOKP 4.2.2 build. AOKP 4.4.2 has only nightly builds so far but CM supposedly doesn't have as much customization. Which one should I go for?

Thanks. I'll give this a try. Have you used it yourself? The usual AOKP/CM themes available in playstore work with it?

akshay7394

Not necessarily. Like I said, the themes need to be made compatible. They still won't work exactly the same though. You can try out Black/Blue Infinitum if you'd like, the paid versions are Xposed-compatible.

I've flashed many ROM's in my days and still till this day, the only ROM that works flawlessly is stock. When I received my Nexus 5, I was super excited to root and ROM but after experiencing stock, I've come to the decision that Xposed will be the only future modifications I will be making to me phone. GravityBox ftw

ddpacino

I think I'm going to keep this stock odexed ROM on the N4 and finally try out Xposed myself.

uunnzz

Have they removed the crappy built in browser and old Calendar yet? I don't understand why they keep leaving old garbage around. It shouldn't be there. Google removed/moved them for a reason. Does Google Now work properly? I have a love/hate relationship with CM. They make great strides forward with awesome features, but are still stuck in the past by crippling or removing new Google apps/features.

cm_user

Your so-called Google features are what many CM users consider to be garbage. For instance Google Now. And why do you hate the AOSP Browser? Sure Google broke it in KitKat but it still works great on Jellybean.

uunnzz

I agree that Hangouts needs work. It lacks some basic features and needs Voice support, along with some UI redesign. Google Now/Search is actually useful. It's nice having information it provides so easily accessible. It should be the default with an option to switch to the CM launcher. The AOSP browser is slow, old, and lacking support for newer web technologies. It was replaced by Chrome for a reason and should not be available or distributed anymore. Keeping old software around and supporting it when it should have been left alone to die slows growth and adoption of newer software and technologies.

David Li

Not that anybody does it but Cyanogenmod is designed to be able to be used standalone; without gapps. It is the same reason why ubuntu does not include chrome by default (or at all, only the open source chromium is downloadable from their software center). If you wanted, you could remove those yourself; simply delete the apk files from /system/app

squiddy20

"If you wanted, you could remove those yourself; simply delete the apk files from /system/app" That's exactly what I do. Though in KitKat there's also a /system/priv-app that has some apps that (IMO) can be deleted.

cm_user

I can't edit my previous post but Hangouts is complete garbage.

IT prophet

no just another piece of spyware provided by (now) pet Google company, CM Inc. with their own spyware network (CM accounts etc)

all the close-sourced appz are just coming and comming, google keyboard, home launcher (+google now by default), hangouts (instead of open source MMS app), Chrome (which is spyware from the start even on Desktop, hence SRWare Iron project) instead of open source and no longer developed stock browser etc...but who is using that garbage if we have Mozilla (a truly independent and open sourced company)

soon there won't be any open sourced app left in Android, and Android will remain just only as a platform to run Google's Big Brother indexing app...even now Android is not completely open source on Nexus devices, as Google is not using AOSP tree relased to those deviced to build them (i.e. a custom close sourced tree is used to build them, remain nearly identical though...with some google hand here and there of course...)

go, grab your tinfoil heads folks, I don't have one...as I know these are facts...

ddpacino

The simplest of solutions -- Just don't use Google's stuff. No one's forcing you to use any of their products. They offer their products and services for the hundreds of millions of people that want to be in their ecosystem. Which is pretty damn good.

squiddy20

You say you don't have a tin foil hat, but you clearly do. No one is forcing anyone to use Hangouts, Chrome, Google Keyboard, "home launcher", etc. There are literally dozens upon dozens of different launchers, keyboards, browsers, etc, some of which are even open source.

hnl_dk

The Android/AOSP Browser is working better than Google Chrome on multiple pages.

Personally I have both the Android Browser and Google Chrome installed... would hate if the Android Browser would get removed.
Have been using CM11 on my Nexus 4 since the first nightly and am very happy with it.

abqnm

I use Firefox for the few pages that don't load right in Chrome. I encounter maybe two or three a week and I use the app Flashify which let's me "share" the current page to another browser.

As for the stock browser, I actually delete it and the calendar as well as the stock mms app from the rom and gapps packages before I flash them. And replace the stock dialer and associated files with the Nexus 5 dialer. Then it is just flash and go.

hnl_dk

The websites usually failing on Google Chrome are mostly also failing on Mozilla Firefox.
So it is very nice to have the Android Browser by the hand.

IT prophet

give me an example...or you're just writing this out of blue sky?

Firefox is having much better rendering engine than Chrome, and because they are day and night - even for webpage, there's no reason if one site will fail on Chrome that it won't work on Firefox, which of course, is, has been, and always will be the best web browser in Andromeda and Milky way galaxies...

hnl_dk

The latest page I remember not working on both Chrome and Firefox, but working fine on the Android Browser was http://www.djoef-forlag.dk

where it was only possible to login with the Android Browser (not the other two).
The page had no problem on Firefox and Chrome on Windows and Linux, but the Android versions did not work (clearing the bowser data did not help).

Alberto

Well, even if you can flash them separately, CyanogenMod does not include the GApps, so it makes sense that the AOSP apps are there.

Daniel McKenzie J.

Agreed!

letsplaay

AOSP browser has quick controls, and I refuse to use Chrome until they finally bring it to Chrome.

sweenish

Just get a better gapps package. Like that from PA or nearly any other ROM group.

IT prophet

'awesome features'? gimme a second, since they been bought by some Russian oligarchs (or whoever is now pumping milions to them in the background) they need to please Google as much as possible, so forget the breakthrough features (can't steer away from Google recommended practices hence no research on amazing features like double-window, halo or phtablet/tablet UI etc)

and besides, all the features CM had came from other ROMs, almost all of them... kudos to CM for providing the best HAL out there (they're specialist on this) but other than that, Android research is in other ROMs (AOKP, Paranoid Android, Omi...etc)

just pick a feature and I'll tell you a ROM it was taken from...CM introduced their own file manager, music player no one uses, launcher everybody is replacing with Nova anyway, and DSP... nothing groundbreaking compared to other ROMs

ok, finally they have something of their own which might be useful, whisperpush...

Android is open-source and CM is having serious competition, which does not sleep... and is more transparent, progressive and simply, better

Dmitri Smirnov

Maybe we should stop pointing fingers and take into account that CM is still open source, shares code, provides a large enough support base for other devices (even AOKP uses a lot of hardware support code, that CM has worked out).
CM is not about ground-breaking bleeding edge features. They are about a stable custom ROM that's good enough as a daily driver.

Marcell Lévai

You realize you can use any calendar you want and delete what you don't need, right?

Mystery Man

note 3?

miri

Never been a fan of CM as it's loaded with bloat that can't be uninstalled short of using TiBU and has several irreversible tweaks that contradict stock Android that drive me crazy going between my phone and my stock N7, but being a Galaxy Nexus user it's better than nothing.

Sahil Chaturvedi

I totally agree! Yeah, we have no other option. This is the closest to stock. :(

sweenish

Shiny ROM IS stock. It's just not as stable as CM for KitKat. If baldwinguy is able to get Shiny back to its former bug-free glory (a difficult task with the GNex not receiving official support and having out-of-date GPU drivers), I'll switch right back.

I can appreciate what CM does, but I've never really liked their ROMs.

Sahil Chaturvedi

But isn't shiny only for Toro?

sweenish

That's true, I forgot about that.

I'm sure someone's doing the same for maguro. I just don't follow their ROM scene.

Dmitri Smirnov

Bloat? CM is basebones android having everything you'd expect from a phone out of a box. If you're having trouble with doublicated apps (AOSP and Google ones) - get a better GApps package that will wipe AOSP ones. I'm not dropping MMS app in favour of horrible Hangouts, neither am I happy with other G+ parts replacing good standalone apps.

Cuvis

They still haven't fixed the bug that prevents it from installing with TWRP. I had to flash CWM onto my phone to get it to work. Damn shame; TWRP is a much better recovery.

sweenish

I've installed two nightlies of CM11 on my GNEX with TWRP with no issues. Make sure you're up to date.

Cuvis

Hm. Maybe a new TWRP version came out then. I'll try again when the next milestone build drops.

Cro0707

I've installed this M2 on my Samsung S3. It is shame how much visible bug's it has :( I didn't expect this from M release...

artsr2002

Anyone know where I can get latest AOKP for Sprint S3? I like AOKP much better than CM. Thanks.

ruleex

i want to know the reason why there isn't anymore HDR option in the cam settings on the nexus 5 meanwhile in the nexus 4 there it is, with the same versions of CM11, nightlies included

connor

i just downloaded cm 11 m2 for my samsung s4 I9505 i cant get google play store can someone help?

Connor Tull

i downloaded cm 11 m2 nightly for my samsung s4 int I9505 its great but i have no play store can someone help?

running (4.4.2.M - CM) on the rzr mx hd... seems pretty solid so far.. not 100 percent fluid, but compared to the oem blur!! If i were to put nova on top it would be buttery smooth.. want to enjoy the GEL on my phone for a bit.

people seem to think that cyan lacks options. I'm fine with that.. no i cannot make my nav bar keys pink, but i will get over it :) !!!!

Crispin Swickard

Can always put SoftKeyZ root on, and problem solved. :)

http://www.emuparadise.me/roms-isos-games.php Apple the patent troll

There are better ROMs out there.

HarrisMirza

CM is pretty amazing, i had that installed on my nexus 7, but wanted to try out PacMan Rom, as soon as i saw that rubbish low-res boot animation, i immediately went back to CM, i'm gonna try out AOKP, that seems better.

stelios ch

can someone tell me if there is a stable kitkat rom for the S4 mini device?
I have install one but is the nightly build but I don't like the idea every day to make all these changes to the phone (apart from this I cannot see an updated version and not download it ;p ) . if there is not available right now anybody knows when this will be available?

Marc Gannon

After installing CyanogenMod I lost all of my volume, even through head phone jacks, I also cannot charge on charger anymore or communicate via USB with PC UNLESS its in ODIN mode. If it is off and I plug into my pc it flashes grey battery, then green battery, vibrates and restarts the cycle......thankfully it does charge like this. any ideas??

cm-11-20140212-NIGHTLY
gapps-kk-20140105

no matter if I reinstall my saved image.....sound does not work. I also lost setting and back buttons

Marc Gannon

got buttons back........but still no sound.

jumbo007

nothing for p990??? :(

krang

the movie maker in snapshot m2 is not working. :( how to fix dis? help..